5 Ideas for Meet the Teacher Night

 

I'm sure all of us can remember the first day of school in a new grade. The nerves, the uncertainty! Hosting a successful 'meet the teacher' night is one of the best ways to put little ones (and the big ones!) at ease for the coming year. Here are my 5 top tips for a fantastic 'meet the teacher' night:

Ask Preferred Names

Nothing is more important than getting your students' names right, and their families too. Knowing how to pronounce your students' names is a no-brainer, but have you ever been given a nickname you didn't like? Make sure your students are comfortable with any nicknames you might give them throughout the year, but asking straight away what they prefer to be called may alleviate this altogether. 

It is just as important to know preferred names for families too, have a note pad and write down these details if needed for future phone calls and emails. 

Collect School Supplies

There are not many organisational nightmares like letting a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds organize their own supplies on the first day. Save yourself the headache and ask parents and carers to bring school supplies on the meet the teacher evening. I like to have a few empty baskets labelled so that families can pop their supplies into the baskets at the beginning of the evening. There are a great selection of free labels on TPT you can download for this.

Prepare a 'Meet the Teacher' Packet

One thing we take for granted as teachers is our familiarity with routines, schedules and general life of school. We can make the lives of our students' families (and ultimately ours too) by providing hard copies of this information the night. You may like to include in your packet:

• Bus schedules
• Pickup and drop off procedures
• Daily schedules
• Lunch and breakfast procedures and costs
• Behavioral expectations and discipline procedures
• Information for parent volunteering
• Dress code information
• Communication methods and expectations
• Holiday dates
• Homework expectations and procedures

Have a Plan!

What are students and families going to do when they arrive? Where are they going to sit? Who are they going to talk to? 

Be sure to have a plan in mind for the night and think about what you want the students and families to learn from the evening. I like students to familiarize themselves with the room they will be learning in through a scavenger hunt. You may also like to have a short presentation prepared to talk students and families through some of the information in the packet. This also gives everyone a chance to ask some questions!

Provide a Take Away

I love to provide a small gift for my students to put their minds at ease before they begin school. My favorite gift is a small eraser stuck with hot glue onto a nice little message card. The ones I like to use are available on my TPT store:

Let me know in the comments below if you used any of these tips for a seamless 'meet the teacher' evening!